By IRNA,
Islamabad : A senior Pakistani analyst believes visit of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates of Pakistan is aimed to take Pakistan government into confidence over new Obama administration’s Afghan Policy.
Talking to IRNA on Friday former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan said that concerns of Pakistan should be addressed before the implementation of the new Afghan strategy.
Pakistan has expressed concerns over the new military surge in the neighboring Afghanistan fearing that it could increase cross-border infiltration.
US President Barack Obama earlier had announced to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan to “seize the initiative” to end the unpopular war and start a pullout in July 2011.
Pakistan Foreign Office has said that “while going forward, the Pakistan people must know America will remain a strong supporter of Pakistan’s security and prosperity long after the guns have fallen silent so that the great potential of its people can be exploited”.
Shamshad Ahmed Khan said that Pakistan and U.S. are partners in war against terror and the concerns of Pakistan should be addressed. “Every thing should be discussed”, he suggested.
The analyst said that U.S. should not hesitate to provide Pakistan with sophisticated drones’ technology so that its armed forces could hit militant’s stronghold in the troubled area.
“Pakistani forces are fully capable to deal with the militants”, he viewed.
The US has made a series of attacks on targets in Pakistan since 2004 using drones. Most of these attacks are on targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Area in Northwest Pakistan.
On June 3, 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) delivered a report sharply critical of US tactics. The report asserted that the US government has failed to keep track of civilian casualties of its military operations, including the drone attacks.
The drone program has generated public anger in Pakistan, and some counterinsurgency experts wonder whether it does more harm than good.
Majority of Pakistanis believe that war on terror has practically been an American war in which the Pakistani government went beyond limits of subservience to the US.
There is a lot of pressure on the Pakistani government from the public to come out of the alliance with the US in war on terror.
Gates called on President Asif Ali Zardari – who said drone attacks undermined national consensus against militancy.
Robert Gates has said that the U.S. is considering giving Pakistan drones for intelligence and reconnaissance purposes.
Shamshad Ahmed Khan expressing his views on the presence of the US security companies in Pakistan said that there is no harm unless these companies are following the international laws.
“My concern is that earlier their presence had been denied by both US and Pakistan government”, he said.
He said that it was a diplomatic failure on both sides regarding these security agencies. “They should work but under a special security arrangement mutually agreed upon”, he said.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that Blackwater and DynCorp are operating in Pakistan in private capacities.
He however said that the United States has no designs on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons or ”a single inch of Pakistani soil,”
Shamshad Ahmed Khan said that Pakistani nuclear arsenals are in safe hands, ‘we have a foolproof security system of nuclear installations’.
Gates during his visit met Army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Tariq Majid and ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha separately.